While Archetype XII of  the Major Arcana is titled ‘The Hanged Man’, I prefer to describe its deeper meaning as ‘looking at the world from a different perspective.”  The upside down figure actually seems quite in control. This card is in fact often described as someone who ‘dances’ , which may weel be seen as creative form of  getting on in life.

The idea of turning the world upside down might be daunting or even scary. Staying stuck in last years patterns however might be just as daunting.
Inevitably change comes with challenges, but also with new beginnings, the perfect start of a new year on this January 1st

So, this last card of the 12 day winter solstice contemplation makes a perfect starting point for new year’s resolutions.  What are you going to do different from last year in this new year to come.  And again remember to ask yourself  before going to sleep today if your dreams  might have something to say in the matter as well

Wishing you a creative, content and inquisitive 2025

Ingrid

 to read more on the practice of the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click XI The Force to read more on the meaning of the card.
Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from your inner imaginings.

The post XII:Looking at the world from a different angle appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The Bigger Secret, – the Major Arcana-  of the Tarot  contains 22 Archetypes symbolising the life-travellers characteristics during the journey on earth.
Card number XI:  The Force is right at the middle of it. You may well see it as the Macrocosmic source of the personal Microcosm you were gifted at birth to live your unique life in.

The Archetype of “The Force” is depicted opening the mouth of lion. This King of animal kingdom is  often used  as symbol  of spiritual source  Those who read the `Narnia Chronicles’ by C.S. Lewis, or have seen the movies based on the books, may recognise the lion ‘Aslan’ as the spiritual conductor of whatever goes on in the storylines..

Next to being the middle card of all Archetypes of the Major Arcana, The Force is also precisely at the centre of the seven cards that characterise the Journey of the Soul during life on earth. Basically all other 21 cards evolve around it.

When “The Force” comes your way during winter solstice contemplation you may want to explore what forces gave you strength during the past year or perhaps even ‘forced’ you to take certain actions. The next question might be what courage, strength you want to assemble fort the year to come.

And before going to sleep today, remind yourself to have a look in your dreams as well and ask what gives you strength.

May The Force be you

Ingrid

 to read more on the practice of the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click XI The Force to read more on the meaning of the card.
Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from your inner imaginings.

The post XI:The Force appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

”10″ is the number where ‘1’ and ”0′ meet each other again; ‘”1″ as the number of potential and ‘”0″  as the number of eternity.

The number 10 might well be the ultimate number to use in a midwinter solstice contemplation, as it is both a number that asks you to summarise your previous impressions and experiences of the year that passed, as well as to give closure to anything that needs to be given closure to,in order  to make space for experiences and impressions in the year to come.

What comes to mind when contemplating on the year that was? Is there someone or something you overlooked? Have you made peace with your own perhaps less fortunate happenings and given yourself credit for the changes that did work?

The suit of Gifts, are about one’s personal holy grail, the things we set out to do in life to fullfill our life-mission. A vision quest on what matters to you.

We tend to think of ‘Forgiveness’ as reserved for things we did to others. Making amends with yourself on why you did what you did, might yet be a bigger accomplishment and creates the freedom for new beginnings

 to read more on the practice of the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click on the 10 of Gifts to read more on the meaning of the card.
Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from your inner imaginings.

The post 10 of Gifts: Forgiveness appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

Today,on this ninth day of the winter solstice contemplation following the footsteps of our pagan ancestors in  the way they would use the ritual  in pre-christian days; I am just going to describe the essentials of the Nan Yar Who Am I card  ‘9 of Tools’  for inspiration.   ‘

One of the interpretations in numerology is that ‘9″ is the number of (inter)connection, everything being part of everything else with nothing being an exception to the rule.

While we may separate one from the other in daily life society, in the Spirit World nothing stays behind. Every gesture, movement, act of kindness or malice for that matter, is equally importent and will transform into something else, returning to sender what sender  initialised.  Just something to think about.

As 9th card of the  suit of Insights – which are all about personal development that is ignited while experiencing the challenges of life – it asks you to look for the moments in  the year that passed, when you felt a true connection to yourself and your intentions in life and the effect this had from the greater good. What did it give you in return?

And remember to remember your dreams tonight; see what they have to reveal about your intentions

 to read more on the practice of the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click on the 9 of Insights to read more on the meaning of the card.
Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from your inner imaginings.

The post 9 of Insights: Inspiration appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

Today, on this 8th day of  practising the 12 -day  winter solstice contemplation ritual the way our pagan ancestors used to perform it in pre-christian days,  we take a closer look at  the Nan Yar – Who Am I personal development card titled  ‘Imagination’, the 8 of Gifts.

One may wonder why humanity was gifted Imagination. It plays an important part in how we view ourselves and the world around us and works both ways, either in disbelief of something being possible or in recognising that all big  steps forward in the development of humanity were created in the realm of imagination first.

In numerology the 8 stands for Karma, the endless chain of ever evolving lifetimes that shape the development of every unique human being and therewith ultimately the greater good.
Tilted 45 degrees either way,  the 8 reflects the so-called Lemniscate, the symbol that stands for the infinite nature of energy. Nothing ever stays the same. Everything at the some point turns into something else, yet whatever it changes into, it always holds some  form of energy creating something else. In the Macrocosmos nothing goes to waste.

When wood is set on fire, it turns into ashes.  Ashes in turn fertilise earth and make way for new life. This is how it works with everything. Every action, gesture, thought, word, feeling, wish, desire, gift or other form of energy,  ultimately results into something else. Even the energy of animals, plants and minerals own this potential for change.

∞

Questions you might ask yourself  while looking back at the year that was during the winter solstice ritual is what changes occurred in your life in the year that passed and which of your own actions played a role in creating those outcomes

With past and future irrevocably interconnected as symbolised in the lemniscate, you can also look ahead at what you would want to change, using of course…your imagination.

And thirdly, before going to sleep, set the intention to remember your dreams, keeping pen and paper close, so you can dot down keywords straight after waking up and record what ‘product of your imagination’ your dreams came up with..

 to read more on the practice of the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click on the 8 of Gifts to read more on the meaning of the card.
Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from your inner imaginings.

The post 8 of Gifts: Imagination appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The 7 years cycles of consciousness

While we are all born in Body,Soul and Spirit, we loose touch with Spirit the moment we ‘set foot on earth’. The ‘setting foot’ may be taken quite literally. As long as we are babies, unable to walk or talk and seemingly  unaware of existence, we are still very much in touch with  Spirit World where everything on earth originates from.
It’s when a baby arrives at what is sometimes referred to as  ‘the terribles two’s, the stage of development when a child starts to walk and talk (back) and begins to refer to itself with a version of its given name or starts to use the personal pronoun ‘I’ to identify itself with, that life starts to change. From the budding human being  starts to  develop a will of its own and begins its encounters with  the lessons of life.

According to some esoteric traditions this development from child to young adult, to adult, to middle age and older and old age, takes place in stages of 7 years at a time. As  William Shakespeare phrases it in his play:  ‘As You Like It’ :

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts
His acts being seven ages.

All too often we wonder why we have to go through certain experiences, how come we ‘deserve’ this and that.
One of the rather unnerving answers to this is that without realising it, our own stand in life, the way we behave and view the world around us, is in many ways  the cause of the way it unfolds, even when circumstances seem too unjust, harsh and inhumane to expect to comply with, like so many world citizens are experiencing right now.

Questioning ones own part in the circumstances one finds oneself in while contemplating on the year that passed during winter solstice contemplation can be confrontational, especially when one is inclined to look for who to blame on what went wrong, rather than to look for one’s own accomplishments and what  to be grateful for.
Reviewing imperfections and vulnerabilities however and looking what can be done differently in the year to come is also an act of healing; which is basically what life evolves on.

VII: The Chariot is the  7th card and therewith last card of the row of seven card that characterise the life journey in the material world.

When this card comes your way you may want to review your outlook on life.  What laws do you live by? Do they correspond with what you intuitively know to be true? And before going to sleep focus on wanting to remember your dreams. They tend to reveal aspects of yourself that stay away from daily life experiences.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Click on ‘the Chariot to read more about its meaning
On the right side of this blog you can also draw your own card and see what it summons up from within.

The post VII: The Chariot. appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

Do you still have old diaries ? When you re-read these records of your life story, do you recognise yourself in what you wrote down maybe decades ago?  I find old journals can hold surprising revelations, describing life lessons that had yet to reach their full potential at the time they were recorded, yet already sort of glimmered at the horizon of conscious awareness with thoughts and feelings that years later start to make sense.

Journaling I find, is like talking to a life coach, but then that life coach is you, yourself . It’s a process. While writing, I find my way through, forests, fields, seas and mountain ranges of words and sentences until at some point I find myself ‘out of the woods’ or ”on top of the world’, rescued from my sea of troubles.

Journaling is a very important part of the ritual of mid-winter contemplation. It’s a way of talking to oneself through writing. Giving titles to the dreams one has, helps to  become more aware of their meaning. Words and sentences are like magic in that sense.  They hold the ability to transport thoughts, feelings and intentions to higher levels of understanding

The gift of expressing oneself – either through painting, sculpting, dance,  song, sound or any other form of art  is a precious human trait and certainly there for a reason, going as far back as the times when humanity as we know it today was still in it’s early stages.  Art may well be among the oldest tricks in town to get in touch with the true essence of who one is.

The first written expressions ever found date back to roughly 3400 years B.C.  within Sumerian civilisation, a relatively short amount of time on the scale of human history.

In our present day and age, writing, using language is the main source awareness. Even more so it often supersedes, intuition or inspiration. But just like midwinter contemplation originates from ancient ways of looking at life, the written word also contains deeper meaning. Words have Soul and Spirit. The way we use them tells a lot about who we are.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

  On the right side of this blog you can also draw your own card and see what it summons up from within.

The post 6 of Tools: Journaling appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The Tarot of Marseille  the Nan Yar Who Am I cards are based on, depicts card number V as The Pope.
Seeing the Marseille Tarot came into the world at the end of medieval times, when the pope in Western Culture had been regarded as the representative of God on earth for more than a thousand years, the interpretation of this  Archetype as the spiritual aspect of life on earth makes sense.

As the interpretation of the Tarot changes throughout the ages; depending on the stage a culture is in and many other religious beliefs have found their way into the western world, we can nowadays see card number V: The Pope, as a representative of a more widely ranged set of spiritual components embedded in the way we look at life on the western material plane.

For some this will imply they begin to acknowledge a divine presence within themselves, while others will refer to the belief system they recognise themselves in, whether that’s Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Humanism, Gnosticism or any other belief system that represents the way one thinks and feels about the existial basics of life..

When this card comes your way, you might want to contemplate on questions outside the logistics of life, such as : Why Am I here? What is my purpose in life? What gives my life meaning? Or the biggest biggie of  the Western World since the first recorded ‘Know Thyself ‘ inscription on the temple of Apollo in ancient Delphi, indicated people started to wonder about themselves: Who am I?

And of course…what better place to explore ones spiritual components than in ones dreamworld?

V: The Pope, is the 5th card of the 22 Archetypes of the Major Arcana, also known as the Bigger Secret. These 22 cards are divided in a so called Nil-card – without a number – and 3 rows of 7 cards. In total this makes 22 cards of which 21 are divided in 3 layers:

• The first row of 7 , cards I – VII characterises the life traveller on the Material World.
• The second row of 7 cards VIII- XIV characterises the Soul Journey of the life traveller
• The third row of 7 cards reflect the Spiritual Facets the life traveller is gifted at the birth and remain part of the Eternal Journey – including the present life on earth, regardless whether the life traveller is aware of this.

Looking at these 3 categories, the archetype of the Pope, the 5th card (out of 7) characterises the life traveller in the material world.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

 Click on The Pope  to read more on its meaning

 On the right side of this blog you can also draw your own card and see what it summons up from within.

The post V: The Pope appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

While the numerology of the number 4 is all about balance, as written on the 4 of Insights card, it can also be a bit limiting, like is stated on the 4 of  Challenges when set patterns get the better of us; or even boring to an a certain extent, when we start doing things automatically without thinking, like described on the 4 of Gifts.

When practiced as the art of observation however, as described on the 4 of Tools it can lead to a very balanced outlook on life. Like with all other  numbers, the number 4 is open to many different interpretations.

What do you associate the  number  4 with? What role does it play in your daily life? Does it ever occur in your dreams?

Suppose the 4 of insights was your inspiration card for this 4th night of the midwinter contemplation; what would it mirror for you?

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

 Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within you.

 To read more on its meaning, the 4 of Insights.

The post 4 of Insights: Balance appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The third card of the 12 day challenge of the winter solstice contemplation, explains a bit more about the 3 of Tools:  a cord of the minor arcana, also known as the lesser secret, that mirror your stand in daily life.

While the 22 cards of the major arcana – also known as the bigger secret- mirror the universal human characteristics each and everyone is born with; the minor arcana depicts how these characteristics are applied by each an everyone of us in a unique way in daily life. There are as many unique applications, as there are over  8 billion people in this world today.

With 3, as the number of creation and Tools as the suit of 14 cards that depict the worldly tools at our disposal to explore the material world, the 3 of Tools, with ‘dreams’ as its key word, plays an important part during the winter solstice contemplations.

Next to asking yourself what this card reflects in relation to your  explorations in daily life. the 3 of Tools also reminds you to explore your dreams to see what messages they might bring from the spiritual world or even your own deeper knowing.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within.

 To read more on its meaning, click the 3 of Tools.

The post 3 of Tools: Dreams appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The Popess, the card carrying the roman numeral II, is all about the wisdom we all carry within as life-travellers on earth. She comes right after card I: the Illusionist. While the Illusionist can still paint a different picture diverting things from what they really are, the inner wisdom wisdom card characterised by the archetype of the Popess signifies what we know to be true deep down inside. Our intuition – no mattere how doubtful one is  at times about its properties – is hardly ever wrong.

The Popess is card number II  of  the row of 7 cards that are all related to the material plane. Within that physical reality she mirrors the characteristics of inner knowing and is closely connected to the realms of our dreamworlds.

Suppose this were your card to reflect on and take with you in your dreams.; what would it summon up for you?

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within.

 Click on  the card of the pope’s to read more on its meaning.

The post II: The Popess, Inner Wisdom appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

What does the word potential summon up for you when you look back at 2024? Which Challenges came your way? Did they come for a reason? What did they have to tell you? How did you respond ? Which position did you take? What change did they encompass?

Yesterday, December 21st, I chose my first Nan Yar card in a series of 12 in the coming days, to contemplate on the experiences that came my way in 2024. By doing so I follow  a midwinter ritual originating from ancient times, when people were still highly connected to the natural world and abided by a  354-day moon calendar rather than a solar year 0f 365 (and a bit) days, leaving 12 days unaccounted for.

The card that I chose,  1 of Challenges , reminds me of my birthright to create my own life story.

Taking this awareness with me into sleep during the first winter solstice night resulted in a vivid dream in which I moved into a new spacious house with lots of windows with different views and lots and lots of bookcases filled with books. Also many people were helping me with this big move which made me feel supported and safe. What if this were your dream? What would it tell you?

The colour ‘Challenges’  (swords in the Tarot) in the Nan Yar interpretation is all about the development of the I-consciousness, the higher Self or spiritual part we all carry within, regardless of beliefs.

The number 1  in the Nan Yar interpretation is seen as the number of Potential.

Suppose this were your card to reflect on and take with you in your dreams.; what would it summon up for you?

Click here to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual

and the cosmic phenomenon that lies at the root it.

And of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it reflects for you

 Click on  the card to read more about the 1 of challenges.

To an insightful midwinter contemplation

Ingrid

The post 1 of Challenges: Potential appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.

The energies of wintersolstice

Remember what happened to  Scrooge,  in Charles Dickens’  Christmas Carol? How his night time visions lead him through his Past, Present and Future by  Christmas Spirits transforming him from a stingy grumpy human being  to someone who understood the deeper meaning of joY?

How come,  amidst all the season’s feel good films made in this day and age, this story is still told over and over again every Christmas on screens and stages all over the world, 181 years since it was first published?  What is it about the narrative audiences still relate to? Do the energies of this time of year hold a natural invitation to turn within, to transform and heal by looking back on what came about and connect the present to the greater good of what is to come?

Even today in our hasty modern lives; we still have the rituals of  looking back at the year that was and wishing each other happiness for the new year. Is it the inclination to look within that has gone missing a bit?

Winter solstice contemplation: the 12 ‘missing’ days.

Interestingly enough the ritual to contemplate on the year that was and look ahead at the year to come, evaluating one’s role in what came about and setting intention for what has yet to unfold,  goes way back to pre-Christmas days.
In ancient times, when people still lived by  a Pagan belief system, what we now call the 12 holy days, were then already seen as portals to insight.

The cosmic phenomenon at the root of this is a 12 day difference between a moon-year and a sun-year. Back in the day people lived by a moon-calendar. In western culture the suncalandar was only introduced in the fourth century A.D.  The moon however only has 12 cycles, totalling 354 days in a sun-year by a 354 day moon calendar rather than the 365 (+) days of   the 354 day moon calendar the ancients lived by being 12 days shorter than the 365 days of a, while the sun year itself encompasses 365 days (and a little bit more), which leaves 12 days unaccounted for, starting at the shortest day of the year, winter solstice ending at the beginning of the new year; the ‘rebirth of the sun’ as people called it in the old days, as it was then in their perception another solar year was to begin.

It was believed the veil between the material and spiritual world  was thinner during these 12 days before the earth started its new round round the sun,  the long nights  and relatively restful days, making it easier to tap into the inner wisdom each and every one of us comes to earth with as a birthright from the heavens.
So with nothing much to hunt and gather anyway and the natural world hibernating as it was, people would follow the natural rhythm of winter and spend their days in moderation using the light of their inner world to illuminate their lives.

The benefits of a winter solstice contemplation. 

A winter solstice contemplation may sound like something you have absolutely no time and space for during our modern day world of lush celebrations of  the seasons holiday. Or maybe the season even fails to be the merriest time of the year for you and you actually want to get it over with. The thing with the unspoken deeper layers of existence at play however,  is that you keep carrying them with you either way, whether they are ignored or stay hidden underneath the layer of  exuberance. Either way  we tend to forget about ourselves, our potential, our freedom of choice and our own creative powers.
Would Scrooge have neglected to change his ways, his future would have been a whole lot more gloomy. In the words of Dickens:

I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.

The 12 days in December with their days short their nights long, are a perfect time of the year to count your blessings and contemplate on what changes you want to create in your life and therewith bring to the greater good.

Portals to contemplation

Although I’d be curious to experience an adventure like that of Scrooge, fortunately there are other ways of practising the winter solstice contemplation ritual. A relatively simple one is to create your very own ‘winter solstice contemplation diary’,  a special booklet  to record your thoughts, drawings and dreams, perhaps even making a new one every winter solstice, creating a sort of summary of the year that was.

When creating such a diary it’s always nice to add your personal creative skills and ideas by giving it a title on a theme you want to explore and /or add  a cover drawing  mentioning the year you created the dairy. You could in fact create a winter solstice diary every year, to leaf through in later days, or leave a record of thoughts and memories for posterity.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out the cards published untill now.   

• The first card, The 1 of Challenges: Potential December 21st

• II: The Popess; Inner Knowing December 22nd

• 3 of Tools, Dreams, December 23rd

• 4 of Insights, Balance, December 24th

• V: The Pope: The Spirtual component in the material journey

• 6 of Tools: Journaling

• VII: The Chariot  

• 8 of Gifts: Imagination

• 9 of Insights: Inspiration

• 10 of Gifts: Forgiveness

• XI:The Force

• Card XII: Looking at the world from a different angle

Draw your own card on the right side of this blog 

Whether it is the inspiration card I will publish or the card your draw yourself, in both cases you have total freedom to explore what its meaning reminds you of in view of past-year experiences, how you related to those experiences and if your dreams made you aware of something in relation of your notes.

For now wishing you all, where ever you are, what ever you do, a content and insightful seasons holiday.

Ingrid Schippers

The post Winter Solstice Contemplation ’24-’25 appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

Self respect is quite something. To protect boundaries. To dare and say NO. To dare and follow your heart, while logistics and the perspective of others might demand differently

The Yang energy of the King Of Challenges  without a doubt demands respect as well as full awareness on how your own contributions add to the greater good.

Also to respect  other peoples accomplishments or boundaries can be a challenge.

The colour ‘Challenges’ is all about developing the spiritual component, the deep inner knowing of who one is. The King represents the soul of this Yang energy , challenging life happenings.

Questions to ask yourself:

At which moments over the past year did I feel respected? Did I dare to embrace that respect?
At which moments did I pay respect to the accomplishments and opinions of others? Did I do so from my own free will?

 Klik voor verdere uitleg over de Koning van Uitdagingen op de kaart

Hoe je de Nan Yar Wie Ben Ik kaarten gebruikt voor het verwerven van zelfinzicht staat beschreven in:

het 12 heilige nachten ritueel

© afbeelding Juliette Dreyer

The post Wat does ‘embracing the self’ mean to you? appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.